Highway Patrol investigating Madison County patrol car crash

Two people were injured after a Madison County patrol car crashed in Wayne County,Missouri.

It happened around 1:30 p.m. Friday.

According to the Highway Patrol, the patrol car ran off the road on Highway 34, one mile west of Route 00 and five miles west of Clubb. After the driver over-corrected, the car overturned.

The car's driver, Paul M. Hovis, 32, of Greenville, received moderate injuries. He was taken by ambulance to a Cape Girardeau hospital. A passenger, Darren S. Thurston, 39, of Silva received serious injuries and was taken by Air Evac to a Cape Girardeau hospital.

Madison County Sheriff Bob Spain says Hovis was released from the hospital on Friday evening

Sheriff Spain says Thurston was flown to a St. Louis area hospital and had surgery on Saturday for a broken vertebra in his neck. The surgery went well. He is in the intensive care, but is expected to be moved to regular room soon.

Sheriff Spain says Deputy Paul Hovis was driving the car, but was not on duty when the crash happened.

The sheriff says the car was rolled and no other cars were involved.

Hovis has been a full time deputy with the department since February 2013.

Sheriff Spain says the Missouri Highway Patrol is handling the investigation. He says this avoids any bias or perceived bias from the sheriff's office.

"There's some concern in the community," said Sheriff Spain. "There's some concern from the staff that I work with about the situation and what really happened. We are waiting for the investigation to come out because the Highway Patrol will do the investigation and they can pretty much pinpoint what actually happened."

Sheriff Spain says, as of now, he expects Deputy Hovis to be well enough to get back on the job after a few weeks.

He says he will keep in community informed once the investigation is finished.